Hundreds of people around the world make a living strictly on the Internet. Many of these people sell products directly, like swords, shoelaces, or rice cookers. Others act as middle men for other Internet retailers, like Amazon or ebookling. Most interesting to me, though, are the people who sell themselves.
Who are some of these people? Seth Godin is an author and entrepreneur with the most popular marketing blog in the world. Hugh McLeod is a cartoonist and marketing consultant with a very popular blog. Steve Pavlina is a personal development writer whose blog is the number one hit when you Google “personal development”. Although each of these individuals give away much of their content for free, they also provide us with different ways to give them money. Seth writes books. Hugh sells prints of his cartoons. Steve currently uses affiliate links and phone consultations, and he also has a book.
I have personally given all three of these men money in exchange for products or services. I purchased one of Seth’s books, own three of Hugh’s prints, and I attended Steve’s most recent Conscious Growth Workshop. I do not regret a single dollar I spent on any of these things. Despite this, I did not understand the power that these men wield until last October at Steve’s workshop.
On Sunday afternoon, after the workshop had concluded, Steve made himself available to sign copies of his book. After signing mine, Steve looked up at me and said “Thanks for participating so much.”
I shrugged. “I always get more out of these things when I do.”
He nodded his approval with a wide smile.
“And besides, it’s better for everyone when the workshop keeps moving along.”
“Mmm.” He furrowed his brow and looked past me to the next person in line. The conversation was over.
Immediately, I saw my mistake. Both Steve and the workshop were all about relentless self-improvement, and I had just shown the first signs of being less than completely and honestly self-interested. Why, Steve might ask me, would I be interested in what anyone else got out of the workshop? I paid to fly to Las Vegas and register for it, and I should have tried to get the most out of it that I possibly could. As long as I’m not intending to actively hurt everyone else’s experience, I can’t truly hurt anyone’s experience, so I should just focus on myself. Everyone else is just a distraction.
Now that the workshop was over, though, he didn’t have time or energy for this sort of lecture. Rather than disingenuously validate something I said that he disagreed with, or point out its incorrectness, he just cut off the conversation. He didn’t want to pollute his world with unwanted vibrations. It was automatic. He didn’t have to think about it. I was in awe.
In that moment, I realized that everything Steve had ever written or said publicly was for real. There was no Steve show. Steve was the show. All he did that weekend was show up and talk, and almost everyone there that weekend had given him several hundred dollars in return.
Seth is a whirlwind of urgent creativity. Hugh is a disenchanted but optimistic pundit who isn’t afraid to call it like it is. Steve is a methodical and dispassionate self-improvement machine. I paid them for their work, not because they produce high-quality things-even though they do-but because I wanted to bask in the glow of who they are and what they stand for.
I don’t know who I am or what I stand for yet, but I intend to find out. Then, I intend to sell it to you.
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